APOn Tuesday, Jimmy Haslam officially became the new owner of the Browns. On Wednesday, Haslam dipped his toe into a potential political morass by inviting Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan to practice.
According to multiple media reports, Ryan and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (a big Browns fan) are present for the first official day of Browns practice in the Haslam regime.
Haslam has every right to invite whoever he wants to practice, but there may be some Browns fans who also are Democrats who are put off by the overlap between partisan politics and football. Indeed, plenty of Republicans who are Browns fans would chafe at the presence of Barack Obama or Joe Biden or other prominent Democrats at practice.
The issue takes on a higher profile given that, by all appearances, Ohio is the only state in which voting will be conducted next month.
It remains to be seen whether Ryan challenged any of the Browns players to a footrace.
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so what your saying is it would be perfectly fine if obama or some other tree hugging liberal visited but if a conservative shows up it is cause for concern? republicans can’t be sports fans? it’s fine obama can invite every sports team he wants to the white house but a fine man Like Paul Ryan can’t visit a pro teams practice?
I wonder if this was a photo-op for Ryan?? Ryan has a strong record of doing great photo-ops….
thats cool! I’m a republican but if the bills invited democratic politicians to watch practice i wouldnt care. dont think anyone should care about this!
It’s not exactly a photo-op, if you look at any of the photos that are being tweeted. You can’t even tell who is who, they are so far away.
Shocking! Jimmy Haslam, whose brother is the GOP governor of Tenn., invites Paul Ryan and Condi to practice.
Where is the link to Chris Kluwe’s letter about this?
Did Ryan have a planned photo op of him pretending to wash jock straps?
If you’re a Browns fan, it shouldn’t matter who visits practice. You may not like it, but what does it have to do with your support of the team?
Don’t the Super Bowl champions visit the White House every year? I haven’t heard many complaints about that.
Voting will be conducted nationwide. They’ll only be counting in Ohio!
What is surprising is that a brand new owner is trying to turn Cleveland fans against him on the first day. I personally don’t care, but lets be honest the majority of Browns fans throw everything out of proportion and I am quite sure the Dem Browns fans will be outraged.
As a Democrat and a raven i say let them pick up a few winning tips from the browns
Did he challenge any of them to race in a marathon?
Two points.
One, I think it is a mistake to politicize practice – whichever side of the political fence you are on – in the midst of a presidential race.
Two, Jimmy Haslam is NOT officially the Browns owner yet. Although the sale was approved by the league the sale does not actually close until October 25. This is an inaccuracy that has been repeated so many times that no one seems to notice.
Yep, the Obama phone lady is from cleveland. If you dont know what I’m talking about, look it up.
So Ryan has attatched himself to two losers now, the browns and Mitt.
To Mr. Meathead65,
Actually, the post writer said it would NOT be alright if Obama shows up at there… Oh, I know what caused the misunderstanding – you don’t know the definition of ‘chafe.’
But where was Ari Fleischer? It’s been years since his last NFL consulting job when the Pack needlessly hired him to spin the Favre situation.
The point is this…
Condi is a big Browns fan. She and Ryan did a campaign stop in Berea, OH today. The Browns practice in Berea, OH.
It’s a natural that they’d visit if their schedule and the Browns’ schedules meshed. I’d expect the President to do the same if he were in Berea, OH today. Not everything screams of “political impropriety”.
So many losers! All they need are some Kardashians, the Honey Boo Boo kid, and the teary-eyed John Boehner. Heh.
Was he invited, or did he force his way in, soup kitchen style?
My candidate and political party is far superior to your candidate and political party.
This’ll make a interested side story when the Obama-appointed Ambassador to Ireland and his squad comes to town two weeks after the election.
Give that lyin’ clown a helmet and make him into tackling dummy. He’s already got the dummy part down.
Browns suck.
His forearms are sublime.
The Browns need a new GM right? Maybe he’s interviewing for a job their after November.
-QG
He couldn’t stay long because he had to start running to Colorado so that he could climb a 19er before weeks end.
move on, nothing to see here. this is a non story. its common for political candidates to visit federal disaster areas!
BOOOOMMM!!!
An old, rich, white guy supporting the Republicans? Wow! You don’t see THAT everyday! Talk about voting against your own interests.
Yep, Browns fans are going to lose sleep over this. Not sure how they’ll be able to make it through the day.
I guess he had to visit the one factory (of sadness) committed to keeping jobs in America.
Did Ryan talk about his glory days when he could run a 4.26 40?
Did he wash any clean uniforms while he was there?
Osama won’t go to any football practices. He’s too busy hoopin’
thankheavenfornumberseven says:
Oct 17, 2012 1:37 PM
Don’t the Super Bowl champions visit the White House every year? I haven’t heard many complaints about that.
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Every time I start feeling better about my fellow man’s basic intelligence, one of these guys crop up.
President (any President) Rose Garden Photo Op > than Candidate (any Candidate) Pandering for Votes Photo Op. Please teach the difference to your kids, so that you can upgrade your immediate gene pools intelligence.
I’m a Browns fan and I strongly support Obama’s re-election.
Decorum prevents me from writing in detail how little I think of Ryan.
I know Rice is a Browns fan, and I doubt Ryan would have been there but for her.
But even if that weren’t the case, I can’t get worked up about this. Whatevs. He might as well enjoy the ride, it all ends for him in a couple of weeks anyway.
I think he was brought in two spruce up the offense with he and Romney’s 5-Point Plan.
Bwaaaahahaha….he told Colt McCoy that he was “great at Oklahoma State”. What a knob!
One would think that the Browns would see Ryan as a threat. After all, he is selling big ticket spending on defense.
Not sure what the big deal is. The Haslams are of course big Republicans with one being an honorary state chairman for Romney in Tennessee. So is Woody Johnson, the Jets owner. If NY were a swing state, Ryan would probably be at Jets practice. There are probably owners who are Democrats and would welcome Obama or Biden. Nothing wrong with that.
A number of athletes and other celebrities have endorsed one candidate or the other. Nothing wrong with that either, though I don’t really care what celebrities think.
thankheavenfornumberseven says:Oct 17, 2012 1:37 PM
Don’t the Super Bowl champions visit the White House every year? I haven’t heard many complaints about that.
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So members of the Vikings will never know what the White House looks like?
Browns dissapointed me by promoting a candidate at the expense of the fan base, which is predominantly Democrat. It was offensive.Why would you just take over and shove that in our faces. Doesn’t make good business sense to me. How many of the players in Berea will vote for an old angry white guy party anyways? It is the owner’ s team and he can do as he wishes, but without fans your just a name and 53 players. Pretty bizarre.